The Compromise
by pnkeye
Summary: Once again, Double D has been dragged into aiding another person's quest for success. More specifically, Kevin's attempt to finally make Nazz his girlfriend. But what happens when an originally platonic arrangement grows into something more? Kevin/DoubleD, rated M


AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a plot based m/m story featuring Double D and Kevin. So while things will be tame in the beginning, I can promise you there will be smut later. At this point in their lives, they are all grown up (17/18), so that will be fun. I'm going to try my best to keep the story within the canon Ed, Edd, n Eddy universe, but with a more "adult" twist, I guess. That's all, for now.

* * *

"Faster, Double D!" Eddy shouted from his work stool, stacked high with old newspapers from the garage. Apparently, it made the wooden seat more comfortable. It's not like he was too short to see Edd's progress otherwise. Not at all. "I haven't got all day."  
"I'm going as fast as I can, Eddy!" Edd replied, clearly exasperated, but friendly nonetheless. "In order for these tickets to pass as the real ones, every line, dot and graphic must be meticulously and precisely placed in the proper position! Not to mention the bar code has to be legitimate or else they might be rejected. And even then there's the whole issue of—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, big brain," Eddy interrupted uninterested with the technical details of his latest scheme. That was Edd's territory. "I ain't payin' ya to sit around and gab all day."

"Actually, Eddy, you aren't paying me at all," he corrected him with a smile, which Eddy didn't return.

"I don't have time for this!" Eddy yelled, slamming his fist onto the dusty table. "I'm supposed to show up to school with two front row tickets to PunkEye in fifteen minutes, and you haven't even printed them out yet!"

"Well, if you'd just give me a bit more time…" Edd tried to reason.

"I don't have any more time! Print them," Eddy demanded, hopping off the stool and swinging his bag onto his back.

"But they're non fini—"  
"Just do it, Sock-Head!"

Sighing deeply, Edd surrendered to his friend against his better judgment and printed out two homemade fraudulent tickets, silently reprimanding himself for getting dragged into another doomed-to-fail con. Maybe this time, the consequences wouldn't be_ too_ awful. He hoped.

As the two Ed(d)s made their way onto the school bus, the third Ed scooped them up from behind with great speed.  
"TAKING THE BUS, TAKING THE BUS!" Ed exclaimed happily as he ran to their seats, his friends' heads knocking against every other seat along the way before dumping them in their usual spots and slamming himself down into his own.

"Thank you… Ed…" Edd said out of politeness, trying to ignore the stars whizzing in front of his eyes. Ed always meant well, but _christ,_ why did it have to hurt?  
"God, I hate the bus!" Eddy complained, rubbing the pain out of head. "We're seniors; we should be driving cars to school, not sitting in this shit can with all these stupid babies."

"I thought you were going to convince your parents to buy you a car for your birthday?" Edd asked with genuine curiosity, which Eddy scoffed at.

"Man, fuck my parents!" he huffed, crossing his arms and kicking the back the seat. "They don't buy me crap. Said they don't want me turning out like my brother. Why do you think I always have to make money myself?"  
"Eddy, please! Language!" Edd scolded quietly, looking around to make sure no one else had heard. "Just think about it this way: working hard to earn the things you desire is a very admirable feat!"  
"Yeah, well, Kevin hasn't worked a single day in his life and his parents bought him a motorcycle," Eddy whined, starting to boil. "He's such a stupid, spoiled brat. He thinks he's so cool because he rides a bike to school and his daddy works at the jawbreaker factory… We'll see just how cool he is when he shows up to the concert tonight with Nazz and gets rejected at the doors!"

"Those tickets are for Kevin?" Edd squeaked, his hand covering his lips in shock. "But Eddy! You know what Kevin said he'd do if we ever tried scamming him again!"

"Yeah, so what?" he replied, rolling his eyes. "Kev's a total wimp. There's no way he'd ever actually do it."

"Eddy, I don't want to die!" Ed cried, squeezing his much shorter friend with extreme force.

"Nothing's gonna happen, don't be such a pussy!" Eddy retorted, trying to pry him off. "All your crying is giving me a rash. Besides, thanks to me doing some private investigating, I've uncovered some dirt on Shovel-Chin that will get us off the hook for sure!"

Double D watched as Eddy's lips stretched and curled into a devious grin, his eyes darken with mischief. Recognizing that expression he'd seen every so often, he knew immediately that Eddy had stumbled across something particularly occult. Something, for Kevin's sake, he probably shouldn't have seen. He also decided that he had absolutely no desire to know what it was.

Upon their arrival, the three waited by Eddy's locker where Kevin was supposedly meeting up with them that morning.

"Where is that punk?" Eddy growled, impatiently glowering at the time on his phone. "He should be here by now."

"Hey, dorks," said a voice from around the corner. The voice had belonged to Kevin who finally talked himself into showing up, annoyed that he was involving himself with the trio for any reason at all. "You got the tickets?"

"Sure do, got 'em right here!" Whipping them from his pocket, Eddy flashed the tickets before the other's face and puffed out his chest. "Two official front row seats to PunkEye's official goodbye tour! Only fifty bucks!"  
_"Fifty bucks?"_ Kevin repeated, flabbergasted. Was this kid for fucking real?

"Each."  
"What! No way, man. Fuck that," Kevin snorted, swatting them away.

"Fine! Good luck trying to find tickets to a sold out concert, loser!" Eddy shrugged, tucking the tickets neatly in his shirt pocket before turning to leave. "Too bad, Nazz would have been_ really_ impressed. Let's go, guys!"

Strolling away with a smirk on his face, Eddy lead an unconcerned Ed and a confused Double D down the hall.

"Eddy, what are you doing?" Edd asked under his breath. "Are you meaning to tell me I did all of that work in vain?"

"Relax, Double D!" he replied nonchalantly. "I know what I'm doing."

Then suddenly, on cue, Kevin yelled, "Wait!" from behind. Eddy bit his lip to prevent his smile from becoming too large for his face. _Sucker._

"Yeeeesss?" he inquired as he turned around slowly, his expression smug. The kind of expression that makes you want to punch faces and shit all over walls.

"I knew you wouldn't be cheap," Kevin muttered, begrudgingly digging around in his pocket before producing a wadded ball of dollar bills. "Look, all I have is eighty dollars…"  
"It's a deal!" Eddy cut him off, quickly grabbing the cash and replacing them with the tickets in one swift move. "Pleasure doin' business with ya." Just as he began to walk away, Kevin grabbed hold of the back of his shirt and swung him against the lockers.

"Not so fast, dork," Kevin said, jabbing a finger into his chest. "If I find out there's something wrong with these tickets, I'll kick your asses so hard, there won't be anything left of 'em." He stopped momentarily to glare at the other two Ed(d)s. "_All _of your asses. Do I make myself clear?"

Though Double D and Ed gulped in fear, Eddy's grin only grew wider. _Sucker, sucker, sucker!_

"Absolutely," he confirmed, without worry. After giving him one last dirty look, Kevin released Eddy just in time for the bell.

"Later, losers," he said as he walked away. Waiting until Kevin was out of earshot, Edd scrambled up next to Eddy and grabbed onto his collar for support.  
"What have you done, Eddy?" he squealed. "Kevin's going to find out that those weren't real tickets and then we'll be dead for sure!"

"We'll see about that," Eddy said, full of confidence. "Come on, let's get to class. I'm ready for a nap!"

"NAP TIME!" Ed declared loudly as he threw his long, wild arms into the air. "I hope I have another dream about chickens."

"Class! Oh my, we're going to be late!" Edd cried, running off without them.

"On second thought…" Eddy said to Ed, watching Double D scamper to class, "Whaddya say we ditch half of first hour and smoke a bowl behind the dumpster?"  
"I'm way ahead of you, Eddy!" Ed responded, taking off one of his old boots and dumping out a plethora of perfectly rolled joints. A single, golden tear fell from his eye. And that, my friends, is a story of true friendship.

* * *

It was 12:17 at night and Edd couldn't sleep. At approximately 7:10 this morning, he had witnessed Eddy give Kevin a pair of faulty tickets. At 11:30 pm, he received three texts.

Kevin (11:30) ur ass is mine

Kevin (11:36) no homo

Kevin (11:36) but ya im beatin u dorks up 2morrow

Since then, Double D had been laying fear stricken in his bed, dreading going to school in the morning. It's not like he could miss school; that would ruin his perfect attendance record. But on the other hand, what was one day of skipping school compared to an eternity of _death? _He knew the probability of Kevin actually murdering him and his friends was extremely slim, but anything the red-headed jock had in mind wasn't going to be pleasant. Maybe if he just avoided him (for pretty much the rest of his life) he'd be okay. If that were even possible. No, he couldn't do that. After wrestling with ideas and several escape maneuvers, Edd made a decision. He'd just have to suck it up and deal with it in the morning.

The thing about deciding to deal with shitty situations in the morning though, is that when the morning comes around, no one actually wants to go through with it. That is why Double D spent his entire day in panic mode, biting his nails as he tried to ward off an oncoming anxiety attack. Eddy, on the contrary, seemed completely unaffected by the whole thing.

"Double D, you are all jiggley like the evil sewer monster from Beneath the Streets 2!" Ed remarked, gently poking his friend's belly.

"Why, yes, Ed. The trembling of the body is a perfectly natural reaction to fear," Edd explained, his voice quivering as he spoke.

"Come on, man, I told you there's nothing to be afraid of!" Eddy retorted. "Have I ever steered you wrong?"  
"So it's official then," Edd sighed and slumped over, his eyes void of hope. "We're dead men."

"Lighten up, Sock-Head!" Eddy replied, giving Edd a smack on the back. "Everything will be _fine,_ you'll see." Eddy grinned knowingly, almost eagerly. If Double D had known better, which he absolutely did, he'd say that Eddy was up to something more heinous than usual. What he didn't know, however, is what he could possibly have in mind that would save their hides from Kevin's unyielding wrath.

Although he had somehow managed to evade the vengeful jock for the past 7 hours, school was drawing to an end. Soon, he'd be forced to step out into the open without any desks to crawl under or lockers to hide in. Oh well. He had lived a good life.

Not a moment had passed when the three left the safety of the school's walls and were promptly greeted by a furious Kevin, who had clearly been outside waiting for them. Without wasting any time, Kevin grabbed a fist full of Eddy's shirt and yanked him up to his height.

"You sold me bad tickets, you piece of shit!" he yelled, only inches away from the other's face. "I warned you not to scam me again. I looked like a total idiot in front of Nazz because of you. And now, you and your dork friends are gonna pay!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Eddy warned without flinching.

"Oh yeah?" Kevin asked, slightly amused. As if that little weasel could find a way out of trouble this time. "And why wouldn't I?"

"Because I've got _these_," Eddy gushed, holding up his phone's screen to Kevin's eyes. The jock's face turned white instantly, his features laced with terror.

"How did you get those?" he asked in shock. In that moment, Double D's fear turned to confusion. What had Eddy shown him to make him react in such a way?

"Doesn't matter. Point is, I got 'em," Eddy said in triumph, realizing his plan was working. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

Snapping out of his dazed state, Kevin's anger returned, only this time, much worse. Forcefully shoving the shortest Ed(d), he wrapped one of his hands around Eddy's thick neck and pinned him against the wall. "Delete them. Delete them right the fuck now."

Eddy laughed maniacally. "Or what, Kev? You gonna kill me? Yeah right! Besides, I've got copies. Hell, I've got copies of the copies. And the second you fuck with me, I will send those pictures to every single kid in the Cul-De-Sac with the press of a _god damn button. _You'll be ruined!"Realizing his hands were tied, Kevin released Eddy from his choke-hold, backing away in bitter defeat. "I got you, Kev. I've got your nuts twisted so tight, they just might fall off!" Lifting himself from the wall, Eddy gestured for his friends to follow. "See you tomorrow at school… dork," he said to Kevin as he left, who kept his lips clamped shut.

Edd followed in tow, completely and utterly clueless about what had just taken place. Before boarding the bus, he dared to take one last look. Just as he turned his head around, Kevin had lifted his, their gaze meeting momentarily. Something in Kevin's eyes made him twinge internally. Was it guilt? Sympathy? He'd never seen that look from him ever before, like something had ripped him open and torn out a chunk of his soul. He didn't have time to figure it out though, as it was over within a second. Kevin had already pulled his eyes away and was hurrying towards his motorcycle. Their short exchange of looks had left Double D feeling uneasy, but it only made him wonder more. What had Eddy shown him?

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so first chapter is complete. This is my first time writing anything, so I'm kind of nervous. First time ever. In fact, I just learned the alphabet. I am 6 years old.

Anyway, I hope you stick around to read the rest of it. Or don't. It's not like it will hurt my feelings or anything. (yes it will)


End file.
